Dive Deep With Mission: Deep Sea for iPhone

Mission: Deep SeaRating:

I am continually amazed at the depth and quality of games produced for the iPhone. Super Monkey Ball was the first game I ever played on the iPhone platform. It was a fun game with some good qualities but it pales in comparison to the games available today. The iPhone platform supports such incredibly immersive environments that it’s hard to believe its a mobile gaming platform. One game that takes full advantage of this environment to produce an excellent product is Mission: Deep Sea from Hiccup Studios and Chillingo.

The year is 2016 and technology has enabled a man / animal control interface. This interface enables a soldier to control specially bred turtles in aquatic non-combat operations. The player guides the turtle through a series of missions that grow in complexity and intensity.

The game provides control over the turtle through either a tilt or multi-touch mechanism. Control through the tilt mechanism is achieved by steering your turtle with an up / down, left / right tilt and two buttons that propel the turtle forward or backward. The multi-touch mechanism involves brushing the screen on either side of the turtle simultaneously to move forward or back and one side or the other to turn in a particular direction. In other reviews I have mentioned that I don’t necessarily like tilt mechanisms but in this game I found it to be very well executed. The sensitivity of the tilt motion was good without being overly sensitive. The multi-touch mechanism was similarly well executed. It was very lifelike and felt intuitive.

As I mentioned earlier, Mission: Deep Sea is an immersive game. For starters, the graphics in this game are beautifully rendered. It is really hard to believe that such a lifelike game is available for a mobile device. The excellent graphics also feed into the other environmental queues like lighting and sound. Despite the impression you might get from the premise of the game, I was happy to find myself drawn into the game and thoroughly enjoying it. I know you might think that a campaign arc game based on controlling an undersea turtle might not be fun but trust me, this game is fun. Of all of the choices I have available to me, I’d find myself going back to this game again and again.

Besides the incredible graphics, compelling gameplay, and innovative interface; Mission: Deep Sea provides some nice extras as well. The same attention that was paid to the graphics was obviously paid to the sound track of the game. Beautiful background music and sound interactions meet you throughout the game. Another excellent aspect of the immersive environment. A tutorial is provided when you start the game for the first time to show you the game basics and modes of control. There is also a nice cut sequence that gives you a background to the game and the universe you are playing in. Lastly, Mission: Deep Sea supports a system of online and local high scores by mission. Not only do you have access to your personal scores but also those of others in your own country and around the planet.

The only thing this otherwise excellent game lacks is multiplayer options. Currently Mission: Deep Sea only supports single player missions. There is a lot of room in this game for both competitive and cooperative multiplayer missions. One of the great things the iPhone gaming platform brings to the table is the ease with which enables multiplayer action in the mobile environment. I would hope that future versions of this game open it up to the possibilities of cooperative and competitive gameplay.

Mission: Deep Sea is an excellent game with an immersive environment, excellent interface, and enormous replay potential. Don’t hesitate to give this game a try.